Terrible European Auto Sales Are Now Triggering Layoffs And Plant Closures

A car in production at the Opel plant in Bochum, Germnay.
GM
The supervisory board at General Motors has voted to close a German factory producing its Opel brand cars, the first time an auto plant in the country has been shut down in decades.

GM is not the only one having trouble on the continent. The closure, slated for the end of 2014, is an indicator of just how weak the European car market has been in recent years — and will likely remain.

PSA Peugeot Citroën, Europe's second-largest automaker, has announced it will cut nearly 10,000 jobs (by not replacing workers who leave), and close a major factory outside Paris. Last year, it even sold its Paris headquarters to reduce its debt.

Ford announced in March it would pay at least $750 million to employees at its factory in Genk, Belgium, which it is closing at the end of next year, according to France 24.

While GM hopes to return to profitability in Europe by 2015, after more than a decade of losses, Reuters reports, it is turning its attention, and hopes for growth, to China.